An electronic fire likely started a double-wide mobile home on fire July 4 in the Dungeness Meadows development.
Crews with Clallam County Fire District 3 reported on scene of the 300 block of Dungeness Meadows at 5:17 p.m., said Assistant Fire Chief Dan Orr, where they found the home on fire in the back.
Orr said homeowner Betty Bennett saw fire coming from the back bedroom’s bed where an older computer was on top.
“(She) stated they were using an older laptop computer that got very warm when used for too long,” Orr said.
Fire investigators think there may have been fireworks on or near the bed, too, that added to the fire, he said.
Bennett, her son Robert Yeater, and his girlfriend Lisa Stockert lived in the mobile home, and Bennett and Yeater were home during the fire.
They escaped without injury, Orr said, along with two dogs. Soon after firefighters began measures to stop the fire, the third dog came out of a hole in the floor, Orr said.
The home was filled with items, later valued at about $50,000 in losses, that made it difficult to fight the fire and contributed to the fire spreading to the attic, Orr said.
Fire crews tore off the ceiling and siding to douse the blaze, he said.
The land and structure are valued at $60,000, according to the county Assessor’s Office. The home was ruled lost, Orr said, but covered by fire insurance.
As of Monday afternoon, the fire remains under investigation.
The American Red Cross provided Yeater and Stockert shelter, while Bennett stayed with her sister nearby, Orr said.
Fire crews report a nearby fire hydrant wasn’t working when they first arrived, but maintenance staff for the development were able to turn it on so fire crews could use it later for the fire.
Orr said a responding fire engine and water tender from Station 33 had enough water for the incident, but crews were investigating why the hydrant wasn’t operational on Monday.
There’s no penalty for a nonworking hydrant, Orr said, and with 30-plus water districts in Fire District 3 and a high cost for upkeep, fire crews don’t investigate them for conditions.
For the mobile home fire, Clallam County Fire District 2 responded to the fire, and Clallam County PUD workers secured the home’s electrical system.
For more information on Sequim’s fire service, call 360-683-4242.
Reporter Paul Gottlieb contributed to this report.
